Last week, Mayor Mahoney published an article in the Spring 2023 issue of City Currents Magazine, similar to his previous sales pitches for the ferry. Both are political propaganda, rather than informational as was the practice of past Mayors.
Tout our many notable accomplishments. Announce important events. Describe significant challenges the City faces. But never use public money to engage in politics. The community deserves deserves information, not a sales pitch, and definitely not a scolding.
If any member of the council wishes to to state a point of view? Go for it. But pay for it from your own pocket. Using a City publication, in fact the only mass media outlet in Des Moines, for political purposes is simply wrong.
Never blame the public…
The Mayor speaks of four paths the City might take at the Marina and in broader terms of economic development. But as he describes it, only one of them is a reasonable choice. His choice. He actually scolds the public, suggesting that it is the residents who have often been responsible for preventing the city from ‘moving forward’!
Never blame the public.
The current Marina proposal…
Truthfully, the City has presented only one real option over the past five years, and few if any specifics as to costs or true revenue potential. To the extent there has been public enthusiasm, my guess is that it comes from so much pent up frustration, plus the fact that residents (rightly) assume that any proposal we put forward would make financial sense. Not so.
But not understanding that is also not the public’s fault. It would be hard to imagine a less transparent process, filled with 1numerous exaggerations and 2blatant inaccuracies. Despite the benefits of modern media, we held our first community meeting on the plan in two years without a microphone.
The downtown
There are many myths about the current state of our downtown–and they have all been fed by that ongoing lack of transparency. According to the US Census 2/3 of you have not lived here long enough to know that, until the Great Recession, our downtown was actually doing better than it is now–with those same ‘1962’ buildings.
The Mayor also ignores the important work that occured during that economic downturn; not just projects like our beautiful Beach Park, but planning and design, with transparent budgets and innovative ideas. But rather than acknowledge and build on those efforts, the current regime simply ignored them. That was not only unkind, it was a waste of valuable effort and insight that we could benefit from today.
When the Third Runway opened at Sea-Tac, a ton of people left. Many of us who remained (rightly) got frustrated at the City’s failure to recover as well as other cities.
What politicians have often done in Des Moines is try to blame some external boogie man like ‘the evil Port of Seattle!’ or ‘those terrible landlords!’ for their poor decision making. And the one feature these stories always have in common? It’s all or nothing. Or rather just plain nothing. There’s nothing we can do–except to try to appease them.
Property rights?
Contrary to the Mayor’s scare tactics, other cities have had success in improving their commercial codes and the results speak for themselves. A previous Council performed a comparative analysis of other cities–and simply chose not to act. We should start again; and this time, evaluate the results more objectively.
If you build it they will come…
Des Moines has often tended to equate ‘developers’ with ‘economic development’. They are not the same. Developers build, provide one time money, and then leave. But again, leadership here has often insisted that we can’t improve our business climate until we spend millions wooing developers and ‘investors’. As with the Des Moines Creek Business Park, the promise is always that some grand project will drive “tens of thousands of visitors to our downtown!” Sound familiar?
Unfortunately for the Mayor’s narrative, many highly successful business communities have emerged with buildings no better than ours. (including us until 2008.) Given that truth, we should first study how others have done so much with what tools they already have.
Today, all smart cities today recognise that economic development is as much about the businesses that deliver the goods and services residents want than the building in which they reside. They work hard at business recruitment, education, marketing, retention and ongoing support. They make those functions as important to their strategic mission as generating building permits. And again, we should do the same.
Practical solutions…
But despite our differences we have plenty we agree on. First and foremost, we agree that we need to act now. I urge my colleagues to carefully examine the following ideas, already proven successful in other cities, and incorporate them into our economic development planning.
- Reinstate the Public Planning Agency we had for 50 years and that other cities depend on.
- Focus on the Marina business. Rebuild the docks and the boat launch now. Develop dry stack now, since boat storage is the one proven revenue source for the Marina floor.
- Create a business development office and make business recruitment and support a core function of City planning.
- Carefully study, then aggressively implement commercial zoning and code reforms proven effective in other cities.
Make the public our partners…
Consider that so many people here have repeatedly been willing to sign up for any idea, based mostly on faith. That’s how much people want this town to succeed! Imagine the level of public support if we earn their trust with a genuinely solid plan, which includes their meaningful input at every step.
We only get one shot at this. But fortunately, the City has loads of talent. Let’s find ways to use as much of it as possible and get to a place we all want to go.
1At one meeting the City Manager describes ‘numerous’ public engagement and ‘over 500 attendees’ to the 2017 Argosy Cruise and 2019 Yacht Club Community Meetings. According to the sign-in sheets there were only abou 100 at each. And as expected, most of them are the same people.
2In February 2021, the City claimed that there were no funds transferred from the Marina into the General Fund beyond essential operating costs. This, despite the issue being discussed on camera at any number of City Council Meetings, including three previous Mayors.